Machine for casting lead pigs.



J. F. MILLER. MACHINE FOR CASTING LEAD PIGS. APPLICATION FILED SEPT-Z6, 1916.

1 g5 1 Patented Jan. 29,1918.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

MACHINE FOR CASTING LEAD PIGS.

Patented J an. 29, 1918.

Application filed September 26, 1916. Serial No. 122,186.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN F. MILLER, a citizen of the United States, residing at Trail, British Columbia, Dominion of Canada, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Machines for Casting Lead Pigs, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to machines for casting lead pigs, and its object is to improve such machines whereby they will unfailingly cast pigs without fins at the edges. To this end the invention consists in the novel features hereinafter described.

7 One form of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation of the mold wheel, partly in cross section.

Fig, 2 is a section on line 22 of Fig. 1.

The vertical mold wheel 10 is fixed on a horizontal shaft 11, which is rotated at suitable speed by any convenient means, not shown. The mold wheel is provided on its periphery with a series of outwardly open pig-molds 12, backed by a water-jacket 13 through which water is passed in any convenient manner as for example by the means described in my prior United States Patent No. 1,157,794, dated October 26, 1915.

Covering a portion of the periphery, over a space somewhat wider than 90, is an areshaped outer water-jacket 14 having inlet and outlet pipes 15, 16. Through the lower portion of the jacket a supply pipe 17 extends to the mold wheel, through which pipe the molten lead is pumped into the molds one after another as they are carried past the wheel rotating in the direction of the arrow. As the molds pass on, they are kept closed by the. outer jacket and the lead is solidified by the absorption of heat by the two water jackets. The pigs finally drop out of the molds and the emptied molds return to the pipe 17 for refilling.

Heretofore the practice has been to anchor the stationary outer water-jacket 14 to the frame of the machine, for example as lIl my patent above mentioned, and this method is satisfactory under normal conditions. But if the parts suffer any extra strain the mold wheel and the outer jacket are apt to separate slightly, permitting the molten lead to leak out and spill or produce fringes on the pigs. To overcome this I secure the outer jacket in such a way as to make it practically a part of the mold wheel, so that the two cannot separate. For this purpose the jacket in the construction illustrated is connected by radius rods or bolts 18 to a a pair of collars l9 carefully fitted to the shaft 11 on opposite sides of the mold-wheel hub 10. The rods are threaded into the collars and at their outer ends pass through ears 20, 21, on the sides of the jacket, which latter is then held by nuts 23. 24, on said rods or bolts. By adjustment of these nuts the jacket is accurately fixed in position and strain from the driving mechanism, etc., cannot move the jacket away from the moldwheel.

The collars 19, in which the shaft 11 1'0- tates, should fit the. latter closely to eliminate radial play, and to diminish wear the collars are preferably hushed with bronze, as at 25.

The structure specifically described herein has given excellent results in practice, but it is to be understood that the invention can be embodied in other forms without depart ure from its spirit.

I claim:

1. In a machine for casting lead pigs, the combination with a shaft and a mold wheel thereon having a series of open molds on its periphery, of an outer stationary arc-shaped water-jacket closely fitting the periphery of the wheel to close the molds as they pass, collars on opposite sides of the mold wheel in which the said shaft rotates, and means connecting the said water-jacket to the collars to hold the former in close contact with the periphery of the mold-wheel. v

2. In a machine for castinglead pigs, the combination with a shaft and a mold-wheel thereon having a plurality of outwardly open molds, of an outer stationary areshaped water-jacket fitting the periphery of the wheel to close the molds as they pass, a pair of non-rotating collars closely encircling the shaft on opposite sides of the moldwheel, and radius-rods connecting the said water-jacket to, said collars to maintain the jacket in close contact with the wheel.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature.

JOHN F. MILLER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained tor five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatents,

Washington, D. G." i 

